Corrections: You get one shot in the modern media environment

If you make a mistake correct it and apologise as quickly as possible. This is Jacob Rees-Mogg's story.

Jacob Rees-Mogg said that residents of Grenfell Tower should have ignored the advice of the fire brigade in an interview on Monday with Nick Ferrari on LBC.

72 people died in the tower block fire in West London in June 2017.

Rees-Mogg is a Cabinet Minister and Leader of the House of Commons. He has been the Member of Parliament for North East Somerset since 2010.

"If you just ignore what you're told and leave, you are so much safer," said Rees-Mogg.

"And I think if either of us were in a fire, whatever the fire brigade said, we would leave the burning building. It just seems the common sense thing to do."

Rees-Mogg was commenting on the publication of the inquiry report into the Grenfell Tower fire.

The comments were thoughtless and disrespectful, but worse they are callous and lacked empathy.

The media reaction was swift and brutal.

Andrew Bridgen defended his Conservative colleague on Tuesday morning for his "uncharacteristically clumsy" comments but also suggested that the victims should have used "common sense".

Bridgen has been the Member of Parliament for the constituency of North West Leicestershire since May 2010.

Bridgen and Rees-Mogg have both issued retractions and apologies.

Your view of whether Rees-Mogg said what he believed or genuinely made a mistake will depend on your political persuasion.

Conservative party chairman James Cleverly said on Wednesday morning that Rees-Mogg and Bridgen had realised they caused "distress and hurt.”

Calls for Bridgen and Rees-Mogg to resign have continued during Wednesday, and over shadowed the launch of the Conservative party campaign.

We’ll almost certainly see less of Rees-Mogg as a result of this incident during the election campaign than would normally be expected of a high profile cabinet minister.

I’m going to try and keep a diary on my blog of how the different political campaigns engage with social and mainstream media during the 2019 election. If you spot a story that you think merits investigation please let me know.

Image credit: Wikipedia.